1. Field of the Disclosed Embodiments
This disclosure relates to systems and methods for implementing an advanced monitoring scheme to detect a localized presence of particular target substances, including toxic chemical agents, in a space, and particularly for detecting and monitoring a presence of chemical agents that are absorbed into porous or semi-porous products and surfaces in the space when it is determined that potential chemical agent exposure has occurred.
2. Related Art
The term “chemical agents” is generally understood by those of skill in the art to refer to a particular class of chemicals, or more specifically manufactured chemical compounds, that are produced, and may be employed, to cause various levels of debilitating physiological effects in humans. Chemical agents are engineered to produce limitedly harmful effects for crowd control, or potentially deadly effects in chemical warfare employment scenarios, by causing physiological and/or psychological reactions in the human body when applied externally, inhaled or ingested. Many chemical agents particularly cause disruption in normal bodily functions.
There are a number of different types of chemical agents. These chemical agents have a broad array of uses including targeting assemblies of people with diluted doses, or non-lethal compounds, for crowd control to concentrated dispersal of lethal compounds over an area as a chemical warfare means. Based on the danger posed by the highly toxic nature of many of the most deadly of these chemical agents, access to these particular chemical compounds is often very tightly controlled in an attempt to ensure that the highly-toxic, and potentially lethal, compounds are not accessible to unauthorized individuals for improper use.
A non-exclusive list of particularly dangerous chemical agents is catalogued in a safety pamphlet by the Department of the Army (Pamphlet No. 385-61, hereinafter “the Pamphlet”) entitled “Toxic Chemical Agent Safety Standards” (revised Nov. 13, 2012). In Chapter 2, the Pamphlet broadly describes the relevant chemical agents of concern as falling into two general categories—blister agents and nerve agents. The Pamphlet goes on to describe that “[b]lister agents are persistent agents that act on the eyes, lungs, and skin and burn and blister the skin or any other part of the body they contact.” This type of chemical agent is indicated to include, for example, what are commonly referred to as the “mustard” chemical agents. The Pamphlet then expands on, and defines its use of, the term nerve agents as “organophosphorus compounds chemically related to pesticides.” This type of chemical agent is indicated as including what are generically, and almost innocently, referred to as the “G” and “V” agents. G agents are indicated as being generally directed at adversely affecting the human respiratory system, while V agents are indicated as producing a broad range of neurological disorders leading generally to paralysis and cardiovascular or respiratory failure. These nerve agents include, for example, GA—tabun, GB—sarin, GD—soman, and VX.
Military and law enforcement personnel receive varying levels of training with regard to (1) securing, handling and employing chemical agents (including self-protection during these evolutions), and (2) responding to all manner of release of chemical agents ranging from inadvertent releases (or spills) caused by improper handling to intentional release in crowd control scenarios or as chemical warfare attacks.
The stability and dispersal of chemical agents generally depends on environmental factors including at least temperature and humidity. These environmental effects are taken into account along with winds and precipitation potential during a deliberative planning process for employing the chemical agents as chemical weapons.
Chemical agents are not typically considered to be stored or employed in a strictly gaseous state. Rather, they are generally stored as liquids that may be handled and deployed as liquids, or that may more often be vaporized as aerosols. The typical mechanism, therefore, by which the chemical agents act is by contacting surfaces of the skin, of clothing and of structural surfaces, contaminating those surfaces even in instances where no particular immediate poisoning of a human subject occurs. Regardless of the particular storage or employment methodology, once a chemical agent has been inadvertently or purposefully released, the surfaces with which the chemical agent comes in contact are contaminated with the chemical agent often rendering the surfaces themselves toxic. Because of this, extensive monitoring is undertaken in enclosed storage facilities and significant field monitoring is appropriate when chemical agents may be deployed over an area for handling personnel or friendly force avoidance of contaminated areas.
In instances where chemical agents are detected and the areas are to be returned to common use, decontamination of facilities and/or target areas, to include widespread disposal of equipment and furnishings having contaminated surfaces, must be undertaken according to very detailed and stringent protocols to avoid harming non-intended personnel. See, e.g., Chapter 5 of the Pamphlet.